HIDDY

We got lucky at GLA after one of our cases went awol for a few days coming back from MAD. After the BA chap at GLA saw how tatty the case was when we went to collect it he offered us a new one which was delivered to us a few days later.
Turned out to be far better make of case than the tatty one we'd been using for years.

gms

I appreciate your points about eBay, except I'm not expecting to make money here. I would just like to receive a like-for-like replacement. Similar to what was reported in this thread last year.

BA damaged my bag when it was in their care. It was in excellent condition. Why should I be left out of pocket or with an inferior product because of BA's carelessness? Others have reported being offered simple exchanges. So has BAs policy changed in the last year?

gms

Just a quick follow up on my recent luggage problems. Despite some contributors trying to convince me that I should actually be "pleased" to have had my luggage damaged by BA and being asked to pay towards getting a replacement, I wasn't quite so convinced!

So, 4 weeks after the original damage and it being reported to BA I wasn't any closer to getting a replacement bag. I had selected a bag, advised K2 Global of this, but a week later called them to get a status update. They advised they were awaiting BA's "approval" to proceed. This is despite BA previously advising me they couldn't increase the offer I had been given by K2 Global since they were the experts in assessing luggage damage/values and had to go by what they told them!. K2 Global still couldn't even tell me what the price of the replacement bag would be, since they were "waiting for price information from the manufacturer", so I still had no clue as to what I was expected to contribute. I asked how long it might take to actually receive a bag and was told "probably at least another 2-3 weeks". So I decided the whole process was becoming too time-consuming and simply too much hassle. I asked them just to send me the reduced cash settlement, which to be fair to them, they paid within a few days.

So it seems that within the space of a year, BA has gone from delivering an "incredible response" to damaged luggage to an experience that in my view was pretty awful. It's not just the fact that I am expected to pay that was the issue, but just the complete hassle and inefficiency of the process that has annoyed me. BA caused the damage, but has made the process to rectify the problem both time-consuming and a complete pain. BA pass the buck to K2 GLobal and vice-versa. It's also disappointing that YouFirst could not help, other than pass me to BA Customer Services. I guess this sums up what BA thinks its customers deserve in 2019!

Maybe BA just needed to save some extra pennies this year to pay for that crappy, instantly forgettable BA 100 commercial

Dave Noble

Do you have the invoice/receipt for the original case? If so I would just thank K2 for its kind and generous offer but no thanks - ignore their suggestions that this is only way you will get money and state to pass it back to BA

Contact BA directly - it will agree to pay based on a depreciation schedule of , iirc, 10% per year age. ( 0-1 year 0% , 1-2 years 10%, 2-3 years 20%, 3-4 years 30% )

You can then buy case and BA will reimburse up to the depreciated amount

Ignore K2 and its attempt to scam you

Oh - just seen that the reply was that K2 offer has been accepted - ah well - anyone else noticing it might avoid being scammed

gms

I don't have the original receipt. But I did ask BA if they would do precisely this. They refused. They said I had to accept the offer from K2 Global or if I wasn't happy "you have the choice of taking your claim to your travel insurance company". I pushed BA several times on this point but they wouldn't budge. I just got fed up dealing with the whole issue. However, out of principle, I have already switched over £1,000 worth of flights from BA to their competitors just for January and February. I'm not saying I'll never fly with them again, I will, but they've managed to chip away a good chunk of loyalty with this experience. Their loss, not mine

It's been a frustrating experience. At the end of the day, BA is refusing to budge over a relatively small amount of cash. It's clear to me they have created this business model with K2 Global simply to minimise the amount of money they have to compensate customers for luggage damage. If a customer agrees to order a replacement bag via K2 and pay the difference between the depreciated value of their bag and the RRP of a new bag, I'd guess that in many cases that cash contribution from the customer will be more than the trade price that K2 will pay for the item. I'm sure BA pays something to K2, but as you say it seems a great scam!

Dave Noble

As soon as I stated that it was liable for damage under the Montreal Convention , it immediately made the offer . K2 is not liable at all, BA maintains liability

K2 atarted making stupid statements that I wouldn't be able to get anything more from BA than what it is offering. I just simply made it clear that I wanted either (a) a replacement of exactly the same case or (b) the value of case up to replacement cost. It seems that once it knows that it can't scam you into taking a garbage case that K2 has or a screwed up offering ( BA tried to start by offering me about 30% of case value ) and that you know that it is liable ( up to XDR1133 iirc) it will concede and do what it should do

Without the receipt or proof of age, it is trickier

Since you do have the recieipt, go back to BA, tell it that you require the difference between what was offered and the appropriate value as per the Convention

simons1

Of course you also have the choice of making your case at MCOL with reference to Montreal Convention.

I would be surprised if it was defended. You don't need to be bullied by big companies.

haroon145

go_around

My hard shell case recently arrived with two holes straight through to the inside, one of which is all mangled plastic. I am getting the K2 Global treatment and BA are simply not interested in replying to any points I raise.

The bag is an Antler case purchased in Aug/Sept 2019 (receipt in storage so can’t get it) and barely used thanks to C19. It cost £165. K2 Global have offered a choice between two substandard options which they price at £80 and £105. I asked them about depreciation and they said BA authorised them for £105.60 and that BA take off 20% per year (even though my bag is less than 2 years old).

Having read this thread I went back to BA and have now asked them 4 times to confirm their depreciation policy, each time they have ignored this and given me standard form responses about it all being K2 Global’s responsibility. I pushed back on that to no avail. They mentioned that their liability is limited under the Montreal Convention, but when I point out to them that the Convention limits their liability to a much higher amount than my bag’s RRP/value, they don’t want to talk about it any more. I proposed to them that I buy a new bag and that they reimburse me with a reasonable depreciation deduction applied, but they have responded that K2 Global’s offer is “final”.

The way this has been handled is a customer service complaint in itself. I don’t appreciate being fobbed off with phony references to legal documents which they drop from the conversation when I point out what it actually says. Declining 4 times to answer my question about their depreciation policy (which I am entitled to confirm given K2’s claim about it) isn’t acceptable either. I asked them to escalate it and they have ignored that too.

Any other option here?